How to Say Hello in Thai

Simple Greetings and the Thai Wai

Without question, the easiest way to enhance your trip to Thailand—or a neighborhood Thai restaurant—is to learn how to say hello in Thai.

Learning how to say hello in each country is usually optional. As you travel, you'll be blessed with people who learned some English—a language very different from their own—to accommodate you. But the positive interaction is well worth memorizing the default greeting in Thai.

The Thai language has five tones: mid, low, falling, high, and rising. The meanings of the deceptively short words change based on the tone with which they are spoken. But here's the good news: no one's going to mind too much if you mangle the tones when saying hello in Thailand!

Locals will understand your attempts simply based on the context. The same applies to when saying "thank you" and other common expressions.

Saying Hello in Thai

The standard Thai greeting is: sawasdee (sounds like: "sah-wah-dee") followed by the appropriate finishing participle to make it polite. Because the Thai language has its own script, romanized transliterations vary, but the greetings sound as written below:

Men say hello with: sah wah dee khrap! (short and sharp finish)

Women say hello with: sah wah dee khaa... (drawn out finish)

Women end their greetings with a drawn-out khaaa which falls in tone. Men end their greetings by saying khrap! with a sharp, high tone. Yes, it sounds like "crap!" but the r is often not pronounced, so it ends up sounding more like kap! Technically, not pronouncing the r is incorrect, but when in Rome...

The tone and enthusiasm of the finishing kha or khrap! show more energy, emphasis, and to some extent, respect. If you hope to grasp how tones affect meanings in Thai, start by listening closely to how people say kha and khrap. Women sometimes switch to a high tone for kha to impart more enthusiasm.

Interestingly, sawasdee was derived from a Sanskrit word by a Thai professor and has only been in widespread use since the 1940s.

What Is the Thai Wai?

After learning how to say hello in Thai, you should know how to offer and return a wai — it's an essential part of Thai etiquette.

Thai people don't always shake hands by default, unless they're doing so to make Westerners feel more comfortable. Instead, they offer a friendly wai—a prayer-like gesture with the hands placed together in front of the chest, fingers pointing upward, head slightly bowed forward.

The wai is used as part of greetings in Thailand, for goodbyes, to show respect, gratitude, acknowledgement, and during sincere apology.

As with bowing in Japan, offering a correct wai follows a protocol based on situation and honorifics. You'll sometimes even see Thai people giving a wai to temples or pictures of the king as they pass.

Although an important part of the culture, the wai isn't unique to Thailand. It's seen in other countries throughout Asia. Cambodia has a similar gesture known as the sampeah, and a lower-on-the-body version of the wai is used in India when saying namaste.

Thai Wai Basics

Not returning someone's wai is rude; only the King of Thailand and monks are not expected to return someone's wai. Unless you're in one of those two categories, giving a wai incorrectly is still better than not making any effort at all.

To offer a deep, respectful wai, follow these steps:

Place your hands together centered in front of your chest with fingertips pointing up toward the chin.

Bow your head forward until the index fingertips touch the tip of your nose.

Don't maintain eye contact; look down.

Raise head back up, smile, keeping hands together at chest level to finish the wai.

The higher the wai in front of your body, the more respect that is shown. Elders, teachers, public officials, and other important people receive a higher wai. Monks receive the highest wai, and they do not have to return the gesture.

To offer an even more respectful wai to monks and important people, do the same as above but hold your hands higher; bow your head until thumbs touch the tip of the nose and fingertips touch brow between your eyes.

Try not to give a wai with a cigarette, pen, or other object in your hands; instead, place the object down or dip your head in a light bow to acknowledge someone's wai. In a pinch, you can use one hand or just dip your head to show acknowledgement.

You can sometimes accidentally cause embarrassment by offering a wai to someone of lower social standing; doing so can cause them to lose face. Avoid giving a wai to people younger than yourself and beggars. People providing a service (e.g., servers, drivers, and bellboys) will probably wai you first.

The wai can also be casual, particularly in repetitive circumstances. For instance, the staff at 7-Eleven may give a wai to each customer at checkout. You can simply nod or smile to acknowledge.

Tip: Don't worry about wai formalities! Thai people wai each other all the time and won't criticize your efforts. If you've got stuff in your hands, making any sort of bowing motion while lifting the hands will suffice for saying, "I acknowledge your wai and would love to return it but my hands are busy." Just remember to smile.

Asking "How Are You Doing?" in Thai

Now that you know how to say hello in Thai, you can expand your greeting further by asking how someone is doing. This is optional, of course, but why not show off a little?

Sawasdee can be followed up with sabai dee mai? (sounds like "sa-bye-dee-mye")—ending with either khrap (male) or kha (female) based on your gender. In essence, you are asking someone, "good, happy, and relaxed, no?"

The correct responses when someone asks you sabai dee mai? are easy:

sabai dee (well / good)

sabai sabai (really relaxed / chilled out)

mai sabai (not so good / physically sick)

Sabai dee is the default response that you'll hopefully hear most often. There's a reason that you see so many businesses in Thailand with sabai in the name: being sabai sabai is a very good thing!

The Thai Smile

Thailand is nicknamed "Land of the Smiles"—you'll see the famous Thai smile in every type of situation, good and bad. Variations of the smile are even used as an apology or in not-so-pleasant circumstances as a mechanism to save face or prevent embarrassment.

The smile is vital to the concept of saving face, which plays an important role in all daily interactions and transactions throughout Asia. You should smile when negotiating prices, greeting people, buying something, and generally in all interactions.

For this reason, the authenticity and sincerity of the infamous Thai Smile is sometimes questioned by visitors. Yes, someone may easily beam you a genuine, beautiful smile while ripping you off. And you should return with a big smile as you are calling their hand.